President Barack Obama scolded congressional Republicans on Thursday morning for shutting down the government and flirting with default, while hoping that the end to the episode would lead to budget, immigration and farm bills by the end of the year.

As for the politics of the shutdown, he said, “There are no winners here. These last few weeks have inflicted completely unnecessary damage on our economy. We don’t know yet the full scope of the damage, but every analyst out there believes it slowed our growth.”

The president urged Congress to stop listening to the lobbyists and the “bloggers” and professional activists who he said profit off conflict and instead to work with him to get things done that they can all agree on.